268 Of the Belation of Tradition to Palcetiology, 



spirit, it is not of any material importance at what period a 

 new and satisfactory interpretation of the scriptural difficulty 

 is found ; since a scientific exactness in our apprehension of 

 the meaning of such passages as are now referred to is very 

 far from being essential to our full acceptance of revelation. 



10. In what Spirit should the Change he accepted ? — Still these 

 revolutions in scriptural interpretation must always have in 

 them something which distresses and disturbs religious com- 

 munities. And such uneasy feelings will take a different shape, 

 according as the community acknowledges or rejects a para- 

 mount interpretative authority in its religious leaders. In the 

 case in which the interpretation of the Church is binding upon 

 all its members, the more placid minds rest in peace upon the 

 ancient exposition, till the spiritual authorities announce that 

 the time for the adoption of a new view has arrived ; but in 

 these circumstances, the more stirring and inquisitive minds, 

 which cannot refrain from the pursuit of new truths and exact 

 conceptions, are led to opinions which, bmng contrary to those 

 of the Church, are held to be sinful. On the other hand, if 

 the religious constitution of the community allow and encour- 

 age each man to study and interpret for himself the Sacred 

 Writings, we are met by evils of another kind. In this case, 

 although, by the unforced influence of admired commentators, 

 there may prevail a general agreement in the usual interpre- 

 tation of difficult passages, yet as each reader of the Scripture 

 looks upon the sense which he has adopted as being his own 

 interpretation, he maintains it, not with the tranquil acquies- 

 cence of one who has deposited his judgment in the hands of 

 his Church, but with the keenness and strenuousness of self- 

 love. In such a state of things, though no judicial severities 

 can be employed against the innovators, there may arise more 

 angry controversies than in the other case. 



It is impossible to overlook the lesson which here offers it- 

 self, that it is in the highest degree unwise in the friends of 

 religion, whether individuals or communities, unnecessarily to 

 embark their credit in expositions of Scripture on matters 

 which appertain to natural science. By delivering physical 

 doctrines as the teaching of revelation, religion may lose 

 much, but cannot gain anything. This maxim of practical 

 wisdom has often been urged by Christian writers. Thus St 



